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By Peter Akinbo.
Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya revealed he suffered racism after leaving Nigeria for New Zealand with his family.
Adesanya was raised on the island nation of New Zealand with the fighter having to move to a new country at the tender age of 10.
Fans have always been wondering why Adesanya’s parents moved to a completely different country, away from all their family and close friends.
In a recent interview, ‘The Last Stylebender’ while responding to the reason behind their move to New Zealand said like many other blacks, he suffered racism after their relocation.
“I never realised I was black till I left Nigeria, I knew my skin tone but I never knew it was a problem, that people would discriminate against me because of my skin tone and it was weird for me,” he said.
“There was a kid who kept on riding by my house on the weekends and would come hurl insults at me saying ‘Go back to your country'”
The 33-year-old however stated that his parents moved the family out of Nigeria because they wanted to offer him a better recognised tertiary education.
“I think we initially moved because they had a better recognised tertiary education, and it worked out alright for me.
“I was good at their maths when I was in Form 1 because we had already done that in Nigeria. I used the song that I had in my head to figure out the 2x table really quickly and I just did it and I was so fast and the students and teachers were all shocked. And I wasn’t that smart in Nigeria but when I got to New Zealand, I was the smartest kid in class, I was like what is wrong with these kids, this is easy so I skipped Form 2 and was pushed to Form 3,” Adesanya said.